Far-right bloggers blame innocent man for Las Vegas shooting

A far-right blog blamed an innocent man for the Las Vegas shooting based on shaky evidence, in a post that has since been removed.

Joe Hoft wrote on US blog Gateway Pundit that the shooter was 'reportedly' a left-leaning Arkansas man named Geary Danley. The post remained online for hours and began to circulate, and was only taken down when police named Stephen Paddock as the suspect.

Mr Danley is not believed to have been in the area at the time, Salon reports, but Mr Hoft called him a "left-wing loony" and blamed him for the shooting. Mr Danley's Facebook page indicated that he was a liberal and did not support Donald Trump.

It appears Mr Hoff deleted the post once police named the suspect as Stephen Paddock.

Gateway Pundit is run by Republican supporters and is known for falling for false stories. Salon reports that the fake story about Mr Danley originated on 4chan and 8chan forums.

The right-wing blog's writers endorsed Trump during his presidential campaign, and often claim that media outlets are writing 'fake news'.

Another right-wing media personality, radio host Wayne Root, immediately blamed Muslims for the shooting in a tweet, calling it a "Clearly coordinated Muslim terror attack". He has not deleted the tweet.